A husband-and-wife team of a builder and an interiors enthusiast took an “almost derelict” stone-cut cottage in Kimmage, Dublin 12, and transformed it into a stylish, contemporary home.
With years of experience working on period and heritage properties, the builder-owner was well equipped to bring their home up to exceptional modern standards, while also almost doubling its footprint with a rear extension, as well as adding a one-bedroom summer house.
Number 624 Clonard Road was built in 1916, and the current owners bought it exactly a century later. As well as the opportunity to restore a period home, they were attracted to its substantial back garden and side entrance, which allowed for easy access during the renovations.
The owners gutted the cottage before installing a toilet and a temporary kitchen – complete with a camping-style hotplate hob – so they could live there while the work was being done. In the first phase of the renovation, they upgraded the cottage; next they added the kitchen/dining/livingroom extension; then they added a third bedroom and bathroom in a second extension; and lastly the owner constructed a summer house in the back garden. The home now extends to 135sq m (1,453sq ft).
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They laugh about how, now that all the hard work is done, they haven’t had much time to enjoy the fruits of their labour as they are moving on to another renovation project, placing this stunning B1-rated home on the market through Mullery O’Gara, seeking €750,000.
You enter the grounds of the single-storey semidetached property from a residential street, into a loose-stone driveway. The inviting blue front door is perched under a charming, pitched awning. The hallway immediately displays the attention to detail that has gone into the design of this home, with traditional cottage-style flagstone floors and an exposed redbrick wall.
The livingroom sits to the right, with an original narrow fireplace and walls painted in a cosy shade of dark blue. The agent suggests this room could also be used as a study or fourth bedroom if you didn’t require a separate living space from the kitchen/livingroom. The hall takes a left bringing you to the main bedroom, with built-in wardrobes and a mezzanine level for storage, as well as a second double bedroom. There is also a utility and a shower room, with emerald-green tiling off the hall.
There are high ceilings throughout the home, adding a feeling of space to each room.
To the rear, you step down into the light-filled kitchen/dining/livingroom; it features extensive glazing to the rear and two rooflights overhead. This is a modern and functional space with a laid out around the central kitchen island with a window seat off the living area and the dining area placed to take advantage of the ability to open the French doors to the garden.
The second extension to the right of the kitchen added a spacious double bedroom, which opens to the garden, and a large bathroom with a free-standing bath and a shower with Carrera marble and statement black and white hexagonal tiling.
In one corner of the back garden is the summer house, which the owner managed to complete towards the tail-end of the Covid pandemic. Taking inspiration from cabins the couple stayed in on a staycation in Cavan, they added Crittall-style windows to the building and timber cladding inside, adding a cosy feel. It features a double bedroom and a pink-tiled shower room, as well as a living space with a small kitchen.
The garden itself has also been well thought out with a central lawn of artificial grass flanked by paving and a large seating area to the rear, which gets the sun from the front south-facing aspect to the house as it’s not impeded by the single-storey home.
Located in the suburb of Kimmage, Clonard Road is just a 30-minute bus journey from Dublin city centre and has Poddle Park just down the road and Bushy Park within walking distance.
